Survive Pledge Week If You're Not Going Greek

Whether you're bound for Greek life yourself or just happen to know a lot of people who are, this is a phrase that you'll probably become very familiar with come pledge-time. And for the most part, it's totally understandable.

For a lot of girls and guys, pledge season represents the weeks of familiarization and preparation that lead to officially joining a sorority or fraternity and finally donning those coveted Greek letters. It might not be the same everywhere, but at my school at least, pledging often means a 6-8 week period of NO parties, NO "party activities", A LOT of late-night house meetings, and of course the mystery that is HELL WEEK (I say "mystery" since I've never actually gone through it myself).

This doesn't exactly leave a lot of time for normal socializing, which basically left me, a non-pledge, in a very weird, very socially-awkward place (especially since it felt like almost ALL of my friends were). I can try relating to stories about girl dates and themed baskets, but there's only so much of me that's can tell the difference between your "big" and your "big big" and your "big big big" before it all turns into one giant confusing mess.

So, after about a week and a half of sitting around waiting for social interaction to present itself, I decided to put on my big girl pants and do something about it. Not constantly being around the same group of friends that I'd had all year gave me a great chance to reconnect with people I hadn't seen in awhile. Plus, I had fewer distractions during the school week which meant more time to focus on things like books I'd been putting off for a while and writing posts for Seventeen!

I can definitely say that the relationships I had with friends before pledging haven't changed now that the process is over. If anything, not pledging was just as beneficial to me as it was my friends who went Greek. I feel way more balanced now than I did before, and I even re-discovered friendships at the end of it all!

A Part of Hearst Digital Media
Seventeen participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.